


Great Galar Bake Off

by MonsterMince



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Great British Bake Off Fusion, Getting Together, M/M, ball guy and toxtricity are contestants, ball guy is non binary fight me, honey and kabu are the judges, raihan can't bake, raihan competes on celebrity Bake Off after the darkest day, raihan pretty much adopts bede as a younger brother, swordward and shieldbert are the hosts sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:16:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27615428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonsterMince/pseuds/MonsterMince
Summary: After the Darkest Day, the League's reputation is struggling and so a celebrity Bake Off episode is planned to help raise funds for rebuilding damages to the cities in Galar.Raihan can't bake, and knows he's even more screwed when he finds out that Kabu is one of the judges. Kind of hard to get a stern fire gym leader to fall madly for him when he keeps messing up on national TV. Or so he thinks.Meanwhile, Bede has his own struggles with the expectations of being Ballonlea's next gym leader.
Relationships: Kabu/Kibana | Raihan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	1. Bake Off but make it Poké

**Author's Note:**

> Uhhhhh so this started out as a very silly idea because I love GBBO and wanted to try and capture some of its whimsy. That didn't totally pan out, but I hope you enjoy what was supposed to be a Kabuhan fic that ballooned out into a huge play-by-play Bake Off episode with Bede, Ball Guy, and a toxtricity featuring too.

Watching the Great Galar Bake Off was Raihan’s guilty pleasure. He couldn’t bake for shit, but he was still suckered in by the soul soothing niceness of the whole thing. It was like putting twelve Milos in a tent to make mouth-wateringly good looking baked goods every week. 

Raihan liked the two hosts too, talk show hosts from his parents’ era, and he’d been bummed like the rest of the country when they’d stepped down at the end of the last season, along with one of the judges. Rumours were that the show was going to have a rotating celebrity judge each year, and the internet had collectively lost it a few months ago when the show had announced that the replacement hosts would be Galarian royals Sordward and Shieldbert. Raihan had just thought yikes, and hoped that the show would just give the two a bit-piece at the beginning, and nothing else for the rest of the episode. 

He’d still love the show, though, he knew. So when his agent rung him up to tell him that this year, the show was adding a series of one-off celebrity bake off episodes to raise funds for rebuilding after the destruction of the darkest day, Raihan didn’t hesitate for a second. Could he bake? No. Was he going to compete on the show? YES. 

After all, he’d been thinking about ways to help raise funds for all of the repairs that the castle needed, because even his sponsorships weren’t going to cover the amount of damage the energy plant had gone through. He hadn’t totally caught everything that Hop had gushed about, but apparently the ramparts at the top of the castle that had also been blasted to bits had something to do with a legendary pokemon that had come out of another dimension, and a pokemon that lived on Hop’s belt, because he kept touching it as if to make sure it was okay there. Raihan was going to get the full story out of that kid one day. 

The league was looking to all the gym leaders to help smooth over the “incident” with Rose. Raihan wasn’t sure how much it would actually help people feel goodwill towards the league after everything that had happened, but he believed that every little bit helped. Leon and Gloria had the burden of grand gestures to rebuild trust. Raihan was going to humiliate himself on the greatest baking show in the world, but maybe make a halfway decent cake. 

It was going to be okay. He had a month to practice. 

So he called Sonia up immediately after agreeing, to beg for her help with learning how to bake. 

It hurt a little that she’d laughed for a solid two minutes, but Raihan already had a bottomless, gaping wound in his soul from Leon’s loss and the end of an era, so that was just icing on the cake anyway. 

Icing was probably something he’d need to learn how to make too. 

\-----

In the warm sunlight of his kitchen, Raihan stood, tense and sweating a little under his loose, white shirt with a cartoon camerupt printed on it, as Sonia slowly chewed a piece of the cake he’d made. It was a layer cake with three -- count it, three -- whole layers. Yellow _and_ chocolate layers too. 

“So? How is it?” 

Sonia drew out a long “hummmmm,” as she set the fork down on the plate, and folded her hands together over the table. The white lab coat she now sported really was a flattering look on her, Raihan thought. 

She gave him a look that he was used to seeing across from the battlefield, lips pulled into a small frown. 

“Raihan… I’m sorry to say that…” Her lips quirked, as she took in how tense Raihan looked, clutching the edge of the table. 

“...You’re actually _not_ going to make a fool of yourself.” 

“Yes!!!!!!” Raihan crowed, sinking onto his knees and pumping both fists up in the air. “I did it! I baked a motherfucking cake! Three layers, baby!” 

Sonia rolled her eyes, exasperated, and crossed a leg over the other, while her yamper ran up to jump around Raihan, clueless as to why but enjoying the celebration. 

“You sure did. _And_ it was moist, and you didn’t drown it with almond extract like last time.” 

“Did you hear that!” Raihan scooped the yamper up and grinned at it. “It was moist! _Moist_.” 

“Oh my god, give him back,” Sonia groaned, getting up to save her pokemon from Raihan as he started to waltz on his knees with him. 

Getting up as well, Raihan walked over to the table to spear his own fork into the cake and taste it again. Sonia watched with a soft smile as Raihan looked a little amazed that he’d pulled this off. He wasn’t going to be winning any showstoppers, but he might actually be able to hold his own with some of the easier challenges. As long as he was careful about his baking and measured everything just right. 

“And for god’s sake, _taste_ what you make before you get too far to fix it.” 

His rotomphone whizzed out of his jacket pocket hung over the chair, and circled up to Raihan’s face. A new message from the Bake Off organisers about the show. Raihan tapped the screen to open the message, still chewing. 

Then he inhaled on the cake and had to smack his chest until he coughed it up. 

“Raihan?!” Sonia hovered next to him with a hand on his back. 

“No way,” he croaked. “No way.” 

“What?” 

“K--” He wheezed. “ _Kabu’s_ the new celebrity judge.” 

Sonia’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my god.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Oh my god,” she repeated, and there was glee in her voice as her eyes grew wide and shone. She shook Raihan by his shoulders. “Oh my god. You’re going to be baking for Kabu.” 

“I didn’t even know he _could_ bake!” Raihan protested. “Since when could he bake? Isn’t that unfair? Huh?” 

It really was. It was bad enough that Kabu was so nice to all the little gym challengers, wore the shit out of his high socks that wrapped around sinfully thick calves just right, and had a way of looking at Raihan that made Raihan’s palms sweaty, now that they were both leaders of their respective gyms. Raihan had just been feeling like he was closing a gap, that if he just kept working hard, one day he’d meet Kabu’s eyes from across the stadium, and the other man would look as hungrily at him as Raihan felt when he saw Kabu. Kabu had never even responded to any of Raihan’s suggestive looks or flirtatious compliments, and so Raihan was determined to stand out so much until the other guy was completely overwhelmed. 

But he was going to fall behind, if his baking was so bad to Kabu, the expert judge. 

He sat down grimly at the table, and sank his head in his hands. Sonia rubbed soothing circles on his back. 

“I’m so doomed,” he bemoaned. He turned to squash his cheek on his palm, and looked up beseechingly at Sonia. 

“Hey, you're a pokemon professor in training now. You're looking into legendaries with awesome powers and stuff. Can you just take over my body and cook for me? Please.” 

“Raihan!” She snorted and smacked his shoulder. With a weary frown, she shoved her hand under his armpit, ignoring his squawk, and hauled him to stand up. 

Staring fiercely up at him, she said, almost as a threat, “You’re going to be okay. Do you hear me? If you want to win Kabu over, it’s not going to be through moping about how bad you are at baking --” 

“Hey--” 

“You need to just do your best. If Kabu doesn’t go for that, then… That’s his loss.” 

Raihan let himself sulk for a few seconds over how Sonia was right about this. He had this habit, didn’t he? Of chasing after things he could never quite achieve. 

“But I’m a catch and he’s hot,” he muttered, kicking at the ground and making Sonia groan exaggeratedly and throw her hands up in the air. 

“Then tell him already! I just don’t want to see you sabotaging yourself or having a miserable time on your favourite show.”

A small part of Raihan’s aching chest felt soothed by that, and he gave Sonia a small smile, as he wrapped his arms around her in a hug, and dropped his face in her bushy ponytail. 

“Okay.” 

“Good.” 

Raihan smirked into her hair. “You know, you could’ve just told me you’re soooo into me.” 

“Ugh, why do I even bother -- You’re such an idiot,” Sonia muttered, as Raihan cackled. 

\--------

Raihan was still wrestling with feeling not happy that Kabu was going to be the one eating Raihan’s barely pretty okay baking, but so happy that he was going to see Kabu. He didn’t get to see much of the fire gym leader during the off-season, but now he was going to get to talk to Kabu. And ogle Kabu’s ass subtly and out of the view of the cameras. Sure, it would only be for the two days of this special episode, but it was better than no days. 

None of that turmoil showed when he landed on the field where they were shooting, his flygon immediately dropping down to the grass to sniff around at it and stretch out for a break, after flying from Hammerlocke to Turffield. Raihan rubbed her head and belly for a few minutes, staring intently at the white tent decorated with alcremie pillars on either side of the entrances. This was it. He was going to be on Bake Off. He was going to do his fucking best. 

“Oh. It’s you.” 

Raihan looked up at the bored, almost snide tone that sounded from behind him, and he saw Opal’s new protege. There’d been so many new faces and shakeups in the league after Rose’s fall from grace, but he was pretty sure he could remember this guy’s name. Starts with an S, ends with Uperiority Complex or something, right? 

“Hey, Bede,” he said instead. “You’re on the show too?” 

“Unfortunately,” the younger man answered, lips thinned and arms folding across the uniform that he was wearing of Opal’s gym. “Someone on the league’s board thought it’d be a good way for me to ‘promote myself’ since I’m ‘so new.’” 

Raihan was genuinely impressed by how much Bede could make his lip curl while he was speaking. 

Raihan’s flygon sat up and looked Bede up and down, while he scratched her neck. Recognizing the former challenger whom she’d fought, she nosed her way into his pokeball. 

Sore loser, he thought fondly, and looked up at Bede, bracing his hands on his knees to stand up, and add, “Yeah? I’m sorry, man. That sucks. Promotion’s hard work and it’s not something most of us think of when we want to make a living battling.” 

For a moment, Bede looked wide-eyed at him, as if stunned. He sniffed and looked away, frowning again. “Well, yes. No one even asked me if I could bake.” 

“Well… Can you?” Raihan asked. 

Bede cut a sharp look over at Raihan. “Of course I can!” 

“Woah --” Raihan held up both hands, a confused grin on his face. God. Teenagers. “I’m not trying to insult you. I’m just here to have fun and hopefully not have to make choux pastry.” 

Bede’s glare simmered down into a haughty stare instead. “Seriously? That’s incredibly simple to make. You just have to be patient enough when you’re folding the butter in.” 

“Okay,” Raihan said slowly. “And how do I do that?” 

And that was how he got a crash course in choux pastry making, the league’s new fairy-type gym leader lecturing him all the while that they were called over for makeup and to get their microphones attached. Bede clearly knew his stuff, and Raihan ignored all of the insults and snide comments that seemed like the guy just spouted off the top of his head. Better to get insulted now in private than humiliated on TV. 

They had to split up when they arrived at the tent, one of the production crew leading Bede to one of the baking stations closest to the front of the tent, while Raihan was led out onto the field to record his pre-competition sound bites. After that, he was directed back to the tent, to get familiar with his workstation in the very back. Sometimes it paid to be so damn tall. Raihan would’ve been so distracted being close to the front, and that close to Kabu. 

Propping his elbows on the smooth counter, Raihan waited for the interviews with everyone else to finish, and scoped out the other bakers getting set up around him. Bede, he already knew, and Raihan gave Ball Guy a fist bump to see them at the station in front of his. Raihan wasn’t sure which city’s mascot this was, but they seemed to be really in their usual shared persona, peppy as ever. 

And the last contestant… Raihan did a double-take when he saw an amped toxtricity standing at the station next to Bede’s, bopping along on its feet to a song in its head and rummaging through the tools laid out on its station. Bede was staring suspiciously at it. 

“Hey,” Raihan leaned across his counter and whispered to Ball Guy. “Is that a--?” 

“Yeah,” Ball Guy whispered back. “Did you know they could cook? I guess it’s possible,” they continued on, tone bright as if they were handing over this nugget of information like a premier ball. “A lot of pokemon like the same taste profiles we do. And if they can play guitar, then they can cook, you’d think?” 

The toxtricity, aware of all the stares it was getting from the other bakers around it, turned around and gave them all a rock metal sign, which had Raihan busting up. Holy shit. He recognized that pokemon now -- the lead guitarist for the all-pokemon band that’d played at the championship this year. The purple gloves it was wearing was pretty cute, and went all the way up its arms, likely as a precaution from accidentally getting anything toxic in the batter. 

It figured that right as he was cackling, the judges and hosts walked into the tent. Well, two of them walked in. Swordward and his brother dramatically side-stepped in, long white capes fluttering behind their outstretched arms, held up to catch the wind. 

“Greetings, competitors!” Swordward declared. “It is my pleasure, as [prince Swordward, descendant of the royal line of Galar] to give this season my royal blessing.” 

Raihan reached up to tug his headband down, to hide his eyeroll. He missed the way that Kabu’s gaze cut to his action, and his eyebrow arched up. 

“And I, Shieldbert, welcome you all to this hallowed tent,” the other royal said. Raihan couldn’t stop staring at their hairstyles as the two spoke, and only snapped back to attention when Swordward, with a flourish, finally let the judges introduce themselves. 

Kabu inclined his head politely at the judge who’d been on the show since the beginning: Honey, the matron of _the_ dojo on the Isle of Armor. She stepped forward with a bright smile. Raihan really liked her. 

“Hello, guys! We’re so happy you’ve all come here to help support this special cause,” she sang out. “Now show of hands -- how many of you watch Bake Off?” 

Raihan’s hand went up, along with everyone else’s. 

“Wow!” Honey beamed. “Then I’m expecting great things from all of you, and I _won’t _need to turn any of your bakes over to my salazzle.”__

__There was a scattering of laughs, although Raihan was pretty sure that if he had to make bread, that was going to be the outcome for his. That was fine though. It was pretty fascinating to watch Honey’s salazzle light the whole bake on fire anyway, and they always made a show out of it._ _

__“And now,” she said, “I’m even happier to introduce a face I’m sure you’re all familiar with, and who we’re so lucky to have this year: Mr. Kabu!”_ _

__The group applauded, and Raihan didn’t try to stop himself from clapping louder than everyone else and whistling. Kabu’s face stayed even, but a small corner of his mouth tipped up when he glanced over at Raihan, and nodded at him._ _

__Ohhhhhh boy. Oh man. Raihan was trying so hard to avoid swooning that he gave in, exaggerating staggering against his countertop just to play it off, which earned him a pointed look from Kabu, before the older man turned to give his attention to the group again._ _

__“Good morning, everyone,” he greeted, voice steady and clear. “I’d like to echo Honey’s thanks. It’s generous, to give your time and help the country come together after the recent catastrophe.” He gave them all a bow, and Raihan wished the cameras were rolling for this. Kabu was just so cool._ _

__The director came along after that, going over rules and information of how the show was going to be filmed over the next two days, what to expect, and whether anyone had any questions. If Raihan’s gaze kept going back to Kabu, no one could blame him. The way that he looked in a charcoal-grey turtleneck was incredibly distracting._ _

__All of this pre-game talk amped Raihan up, and he was bouncing a little on his feet as well, when everyone was herded out of the tent and to the top of the steps, for the opening shot of the contestants walking together into the tent. Ball Guy was chatting to a red-faced Bede ahead of him, trying to coax Bede into striking a pose with them when the filming would start, while the toxtricity followed behind playing air guitar._ _

__Beside him, Raihan felt a hand curve over his elbow, and a voice that made him shiver._ _

__“Raihan.”_ _

__He turned to see Kabu, who had joined to walk with him. The older man was looking up at him with an inscrutable expression, before the lines of his mouth deepened into a small smile._ _

__His voice was polite as he asked, “Are you looking forward to the challenge?” Kabu’s eyes, however, were dark and fierce, a thrill for competition that Raihan’s own drive had always resonated with._ _

__He flashed his teeth at Kabu in a toothy grin. “You bet. I’ve been practicing all month to knock your socks off.”_ _

__The older man chuckled, one hand covering his mouth. Typical Kabu, to not think about how sexy he looked in his socks that stretched around his calves in a way that made Raihan’s insides feel as jelly as a ditto._ _

__“I’ll look forward to that.”_ _

__Maybe it was the sun shining down on them, or the breeze that blew and ruffled the ends of Kabu’s hair and kissed over Raihan’s skin, that had him blurting out, “so, how are you, Kabu? Is Motostoke -- the repairs, I mean -- how’s that going?”_ _

__Kabu’s expression grew solemn. “The stadium itself was the only physical structure to sustain damage. I would say that we were far more fortunate than some other towns. But tourism is down in the city. My gym members are mostly busy with rehabilitating the league’s image to our residents. People are uncomfortable at seeing how volatile dynamaxing could be, and the city has already received a petition from a concerned citizen group to develop more restrictions and safety measures around dynamaxing.”_ _

__He paused, and looked back up at Raihan. “I’m boring you, aren’t I?”_ _

__Raihan gawped at Kabu for a moment. “No!” he protested, vehemently. “Never.” Kabu could recap Raihan’s entire 0-10 loss history of battles against Leon, and Raihan would still listen to all that and probably feel weirdly turned on by it._ _

__“That stuff’s important,” Raihan added, when Kabu looked unconvinced and droll at him. “If you’re seeing the public’s reaction like this in Motostoke, chances are people everywhere feel that way. The whole league needs to know about this.”_ _

__Raihan shifted slightly on his feet under the weight of Kabu’s stare for a few quiet seconds, before the other gym leader gave him a short nod. “As it stands, I’ve told the commission already, and they are formulating a press policy. We’ll likely be told about it in the next gym leader meeting.”_ _

__“Given our marching orders, more like,” Raihan scoffed, and Kabu _laughed_. Like his head tipped back and with how his laugh resounded low from his chest, Raihan felt his heart stop for a moment. A huge grin broke out across his own face that he had to quickly fake a cough and cover. _ _

__“Of course a man who creates his own localized weather wouldn’t like following orders.” Kabu’s smile was sly, and Raihan had to wrap both his hands behind his head, faking nonchalance but actually fighting to keep his hands from reaching out to grab Kabu by the arms and beg him to make fun of him a little more._ _

__“I’ll make it sunny for you any day, old man,” he grinned with a wink, and instantly regretted it because of course that had Kabu frowning slightly, and turning away with a small tug to his turtleneck. Ugh, and he’d been so good at being mature up until this point._ _

__“Sorry,” he started, and Kabu held up a hand to stop him._ _

__“It’s all right, Raihan,” he said, and yet Raihan pursed his lips, disappointed, when Kabu gestured to where the rest of the contestants were standing. “You should get to that. And good luck,” he added, in that encouraging tone of his, that warmed Raihan down to his toes._ _

__“Thanks,” Raihan replied, and watched wistfully as Kabu jogged back to film whatever it was that the show had scripted for the judges. Was he ever going to be able to convince Kabu to take him seriously? He’d spent almost a year on his best behaviour, trying to keep a respectable professionalism between himself and Kabu during the league. He’d thought that if he’d shown that he was every bit a gym leader that kids could look up to, just like Kabu was to them, then they’d have something to talk about._ _

__Now the biggest thing Kabu was going to remember about him was how badly he could mess up using an oven._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI that Kabu's salazzle and Honey's salazzle are definitely girlfriends. Mustard cannot believe that his wife hangs out with his rival so often because of this.


	2. Signature Challenge

After filming their walk down into the tent, Raihan’s somewhat dejected mood lifted by the toxtricity that had tugged him into dancing with it down the steps, the rest of the setup moved fast. In what felt like the blink of an eye, the director was moving behind the cameras as Swordward and Shieldbert fixed their bowties and struck a pose towards the main camera. 

And then the competition officially started. 

To Raihan’s surprise, Swordward and Shieldbert bantered in a way that was actually pretty not cringey, before introducing the judges, who reiterated what they’d said to the group before the cameras had started. 

“Ever-burning man of fire, Motostoke’s own stalwart Kabu,” Swordward added, after Kabu’s introduction. “We’re all dying to know. What is _your_ history of baking?” 

Raihan leaned in. 

Kabu smiled, in the self-effacing way that he got after his gym battles. “I find it relaxes me. Fire and heat are very nurturing things, as we’ve all seen, and there’s something satisfying about watching something you’ve made rise in the oven.” 

Raihan had to bite his lip. Oh, there was something of his that Kabu could make rise. 

“And your favourite thing to bake?” Shieldbert prompted, from over Swordward’s shoulder. 

“Kabocha squash pie,” Kabu answered without even having to think about it. Or maybe he’d already thought about it before the show started. “It combines my favourite vegetable with the spice of cinnamon.” 

“Could that be the technical challenge that you’ve picked for our contestants today?” Swordward smirked, hamming it up with a wink at the camera. 

In Raihan’s opinion, Kabu did a much better take on a mysterious smile when he simply shrugged and answered, “we shall see.” 

Okay, so hopefully not. Raihan didn’t want Kabu to have the memory of eating a really bad take on his favourite food, and find out that Raihan had been the one to mangle it. But then again, Raihan made a pretty good squash curry, so… Maybe all hope wasn’t lost. 

First came the signature challenge, however. The theme was cakes, like Raihan had practiced, but with the added challenge of requiring that the contestants shape and bake biscuits to top their cake, and decorate it all to be their favourite location in Galar. 

Raihan opted not to recreate Hammerlocke castle, because he'd fail if he tried that. Instead, he leaned into his lack of experience with designing cakes, and decided to make the broken sphere that was still being repaired down in the energy plant. Crumbling up biscuits dyed black with inkay ink wouldn’t be too hard for him to pull off. 

Baking without Sonia there to catch his mistakes made the whole thing a lot harder, though. Raihan spent the first five minutes of the challenge intently writing out the steps that he’d need to do, marking when to set a timer and when to check on all the different pieces. He ignored the clatter of his competitors around him as they all got started on the actual baking part of the show. Already, the tent was starting to smell good, the scent of flour and wet batter, with lots of sugar, accompanying the excitement that crackled in the air. 

When the cameraman came around to him, Raihan made sure to look up and flash a toothy grin at their rotom.

“So, I’ve tried this twice… Third time’s the charm, right?” 

He could see from out of the corner of his eye, Kabu and Honey standing at the toxtricity’s station and looking interested at what it was whipping in its bowl. The two judges didn’t get to Raihan’s station until his cake was already in the oven, and he was measuring out the brown sugar to add to the butter for his shortbread. 

“Hey, guys,” he grinned. “Welcome to the lair of the dragon!” 

Honey smiled, but Kabu’s face remained stoic. 

“Hello, Raihan. What are you making for this challenge?” 

“The energy plant in Hammerlocke.” Raihan locked in his mixing bowl into the stand mixer, and the rotom in it started to cream the ingredients together. He gave Kabu a look that was a little too genuinely soft for television. 

“Interesting choice,” Kabu commented, one eyebrow arching up. Ohh, Raihan thought, his eyes gleaming brightly. Oh wow, if Kabu was going to play up the hard-to-please judge, Raihan was going to enjoy this even more. 

“Yeah,” he said. “I wanted to shoutout all the people working on rebuilding it, and for everyone who’s been affected by the power shutdowns while we get everything up and running again.” 

The twin looks of fondness from Kabu and Honey had Raihan flashing his grin. _Yeah, I’m sweet. Check me out, Kabu._

“And I only learned how to bake for this show so I can’t actually make the whole Hammerlocke castle.” 

Honey took his cue and laughed. “Oh, sweet, you’re not going to like tomorrow’s showstopper then,” she winked at him, and Raihan made an exaggerated groan. 

“Honey!” 

Looking between them, Kabu placed a hand on Honey’s elbow, and they started to walk off. Kabu gave him a parting look that was his special brand of stern but encouraging. 

“I look forward to trying what you’ve worked so hard on.” 

Raihan gave him a thumbs up. 

Giving him a stool to sit on during the judging phase was a comical choice, so Raihan was glad that both he and the crew agreed that he should just stay leaning against his workstation counter when the time came. He bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, as Ball Guy brought up their gorgeous cake, frosted like a dive ball -- of course -- with the lighthouse in Hulbury constructed from biscuits atop it. 

Kabu kept a neutral face, but Raihan wondered if he was thinking about Nessa in that moment. 

“Hulbury is my favourite place to go on holiday,” Ball Guy explained, while Honey set the lighthouse aside, and cut into the cake. “And I dyed the qualot berry cream between the layers blue to match the ocean motif.” 

Honey finished her tasting first, while Raihan stared at Kabu’s thin lips as they moved while he chewed. 

“That berry cream is delicious,” Honey nodded approvingly, then tested the biscuit. “Great firmness. What flavour is this?” 

“A simple shortbread. I like my cake with tea, and I wanted to make a topping that wasn’t too rich. Like a palette cleanser!” 

Dang. They really knew their cooking. Raihan hadn’t even thought about what to pair his very chocolate cake and chocolate shortbread with. 

“It works perfectly,” Kabu commented. “You’ve started strong.” 

“Thank you!” Ball Guy’s entire body seemed like it was beaming when they brought their cake back. Raihan raised his hand for a high five. 

“Can I have five slices,” he whispered to them, and Ball Guy stared silently at him for a few long seconds, the wide mouth of their head looming in front of him. 

Then apologetically, they said: “I’m so sorry! The camera crew already called first dibs.” 

“Nooo.” 

The toxtricity was next, and Raihan was kind of even more in love that Kabu didn’t hesitate for a moment before he cut into the cake and took a bite of it. He’d be excited to try a pokemon-baked cake too. 

“A little dry,” Kabu said first, before he looked up at the toxtricity, which was pressing its fingers together a little tensely. “But you have very bold flavours. I myself like a spicy cake.” 

The toxtricity thrummed its purple frills and did a little happy shuffle that had everyone in the tent grinning. 

“And your topping is… I could see a business opportunity with this,” Honey gasped, as she admired how the pokemon had fanned out petal-shaped biscuits and iced them pink to look a lot like Wyndon stadium.

Raihan licked his lips and hoped that he’d get to eat a piece of it.

“Bede.” 

At his name, Bede strode confidently to the front, to set down his cake. Calling it cake didn’t do it justice -- while the rest of them had baked a two layer cake, Bede had gone to recreate the gigantamax form of alcremie. He’d cut cookies into the shape of its decorations around its sides, and June spent a minute just marvelling and praising his ability to plan this all in the time limit. 

Kabu looked at Bede silently for a few moments, before smiling. “The hat on top of your alcremie reminds me of someone we both know, I suspect.” 

Bede squared his shoulders, and replied in a tone that was haughty as ever. “Yes. This is based on Opal’s alcremie. Even though my goal is still to become the champion, when I took her challenge, I felt like Ballonlea was someplace special. And it is.” 

“I’m sure she’ll enjoy seeing this. And it’s her loss not to taste it. It’s quite good, and you’ve achieved the same level of moistness in each of your layers.” 

Bede marched back to his station with a proud look, and a slight flush across his pale cheeks. Yeah, no one was impervious to Kabu's well-earned praise. 

“Raihan.” 

Raihan loped over to the front, carrying his cake and playing up his confident grin, because his cake… Did not look great. He’d run short of time, and the frosting over his cake was a little sloppy -- not enough, on one side -- and his cracked biscuit sphere looked more like a pile of rubble on top of his cake. All in all, it reminded him of the mud pie he’d baked for Sonia as a prank when they’d been 12. 

Kabu gave him a long look, while Honey cupped her cheek in her hand thoughtfully. 

“Well,” she started, “shall we see what it looks like on the inside?” 

Raihan crossed his fingers, and breathed out in relief when she cut open the cake to reveal two clean layers. 

“It’s flavoured with persim and lum berry extracts,” he explained, while Honey and Kabu tasted it. “With chocolate frosting.” 

“It’s very nice and light. It can be easy to overdo it with the extracts, but yours is balanced,” Honey told him, as she set down the fork and looked at his topping. 

Kabu was the one who addressed this. “And just how are we supposed to eat these crumbs?” 

“Yeah, I, uh. Made my shortbread a little too crisp, and so when I tried cutting it, it just… crumbled,” Raihan said, and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Hmm.” Kabu scooped up some of the crumbs, and tasted them. He didn’t say anything while he chewed, or after swallowing. Finally, after a few seconds to build up the dramatic tension, he put down his fork. 

“We shall see if you crumble in your next bake as well.” 

Raihan felt a flush spread across his face and back, and it wasn’t just out of shame. He’d never actually been reprimanded by Kabu before, and somehow Kabu’s attitude was… 

Pretty sexy. 

He grabbed his cake with a loud, “I wont!” 

Like he told the camera afterwards, in his post-challenge interview: “I’m just glad I didn’t set something on fire. Now I’ve got even more to prove.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you believe I started this whole fic because I wanted to write about Raihan having a humiliation kink.


	3. Technical Challenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is longer because _things_ happen (;

“Now, contestants!” Swordward announced. 

“For the technical challenge!” Shieldbert continued. They were both wearing top hats in the colour of flames, and Raihan felt embarrassed for them. 

“When it comes to baking, there's never just one right way,” Swordward intoned, sounding like he was reciting a poem. Raihan was impressed at how many of the people in the tent could keep a straight face on. 

“And baking with a loved one can make your day,” Shieldbert continued. 

“So today you will be baking… Six crème brûlées!" They finished in unison, bowing for applause that seemed genuinely nice from the toxtricity and Ball Guy, and ironic from Raihan, Honey, Kabu, and Bede.

"Thank you! Now the judges will be looking for perfectly soft custard, and a beautiful carmelization on your desserts,” Swordward explained. “But never fear! You will have help when carmelizing the tops.” He and Shieldert bowed at Kabu. 

“Four of the most esteemed fire-type pokemon from Kabu’s team will be randomly assigned to you to help. Communicate with them effectively, and you’ll be able to produce the most exquisite tops.” 

“Judges! Any tips to our bakers?” 

Kabu looked at all four of them. “A reminder to you all that my pokemon can all bite.” He smirked after a pause, and Honey burst out laughing, while Swordward and Shieldbert looked horrified. 

Raihan was just enjoying this side to Kabu. 

Kabu reached from his belt to place four pokeballs on the judging table, before the photos of each of the competitors. “Torkoal, ninetails, arcanine, and centiskorch,” he listed as he went. 

Raihan was a little disappointed that he hadn’t gotten Kabu’s torkoal, and Bede had. But he couldn’t be bummed about getting to work with Kabu’s ninetails. 

Once the judges had left the tent, the bakers all went up to collect the pokeballs. Raihan grinned down at the ninetails as she emerged, and stretched, ruffling her tails. 

“Hey, girl. Looks like we’re working together, huh?” 

He was glad that Kabu’s ninetails wasn’t as much of a sore loser like his own flygon was. The ninetails gave him a determined look that made Raihan think of her owner fondly. 

“Alright, let’s brûlée these crèmes!” 

The thing was, Raihan had never made these before. He didn’t even like eating them -- way too sweet for him -- so he put all of his focus on following the vague instructions. Kabu’s ninetails proved to be a great sous-chef, making Raihan picture her helping Kabu in his own kitchen. She pushed sugar towards him when he needed it and smacked him with her tails when he forgot to set a timer for the oven. He was just patting her head in thanks, when he heard something breaking at Bede’s station. 

Raihan looked over, and was taken aback by how frazzled and upset the new gym leader looked. What had happened in the last 20 minutes? He saw Swordward and Shieldbert approach Bede and then physically back away after exchanging a few low words. Kabu’s torkoal was pressing himself up against Bede’s hip, and Raihan saw the distressed look that flashed across Bede’s face as he looked down at the pokemon. Bede ducked down below where Raihan could see, possibly to hide his face, even though the cameras were politely pointed away from him at this point. 

Off-camera, the director looked like he was deliberating whether to put things on pause. Raihan quickly walked over to crouch next to Bede. He saw a broken ramekin at their feet. 

“Hey,” he said, peering curiously at Bede. “You okay? What happened?” 

Bede took a shaky breath, and glared from between his folded arms at Raihan. 

“None of your business,” he spat. 

“Okay, Okay.” Raihan’s eyebrows lifted up high. It was pretty obvious that Bede wasn’t someone he could press to tell him what was going on. He unclipped his own microphone, and reached up to place it on the workstation, out of the way.

“Seriously, if you just want to talk,” he whispered this time. “We can. We’re competitive guys, I get it. But if you’re not having fun…” 

Bede watched him suspiciously, but he must have really had something to say, because he unclipped his own microphone and handed it to Raihan’s long reach to set it aside as well. After a long pause, he muttered, “I have to win this.” 

Raihan gave him a confused look. “Hey, if that’s what you want, you seem like you really could.” 

“No,” Bede said sharply. “I _have_ to. If I don’t…” 

He didn’t finish, however, instead standing back up on his feet and grabbing his microphone to clip it back onto his shirt. 

“You should get back to baking,” he said down to Raihan, stiff and without looking back at the Hammerlocke gym leader. 

Raihan had no clue what had just happened, but he left with an absent, “uh, sure. Good luck.” 

While it seemed like Bede was back to focusing on his desserts, Raihan was much more distracted, often looking over at Bede and trying to puzzle out what the guy had meant. He _had_ to? Raihan was no stranger to pushing himself hard, for holding onto a mantra that he was going to beat Leon one of these days. Was it like that for Bede too? He’d definitely talked a big game when he’d faced off against Hop and Gloria at the championships. And even when he’d faced Raihan for his gym challenge, so intent on proving that there was a reason why Chairman Rose had nominated him. 

Rose… Now there was a guy who Raihan didn’t want to think about. 

Kabu’s ninetails nipped at his hand, which brought Raihan back to his own baking. He realised belatedly that he’d been measuring out milk instead of heavy cream. 

“Thanks,” he grinned, patting her head, and the ninetails preened as she resumed her dainty seated position next to the oven. 

Raihan heard Ball Guy and Shieldbert joking about testing the ‘wobble’ of their custard, and glanced over to make sure that the royal wasn’t being more of a creep than he usually was. Fortunately, everything seemed acceptable for public television, and the toxtricity had joined the conversation, doing a little pelvic jiggle to show the wobble of his own custard. Kabu’s centiskorch, working with the toxtricity, undulated as well in their impromptu dance party. Lucky. Raihan wanted to join, but his timer broke into how much he was enjoying watching that, and he bent down to pull his own desserts out of the oven. 

He shook one of the ramekins. It barely wobbled. That was okay, right? He wondered if Kabu would like him if he proved to be just a pretty face and badass on the battlefield. 

He set the row of ramekins down at the feet of the ninetails. “Okay, so, the tops should be ‘lightly flamed to a crispy, golden brown top.’ Can you see colours?” he asked the ninetails. 

She looked unimpressed at him. 

“Okay, okay, dumb question.” He still didn’t know if it was a yes or a no. 

“I guess just run a gentle flame over it for now? Better to start off gentle than burn it, yeah?” 

The ninetails started off with a flame that was so small that Raihan realised she was teasing him, and he laughed so loud that the sound crew probably had to adjust his sound levels there. But after that, they figured out the right intensity of flame for her to use, and Raihan finished the challenge with just a minute left, six perfectly crispy tops to his dessert. He held out a hand for the ninetails to shake, but she just gave him a nod and placed her paws on the edge of the counter, to stand and look at the toxtricity as it finished up.

Raihan, completely jokingly, whispered to her, “you should go talk to him.”

Ninetails quickly dropped down on all fours and snapped her jaws at him, but Raihan had grown up raising a trapinch with half of her body essentially composed of teeth. He could tell when a pokemon actually meant harm. 

“Okay, okay,” he grinned. “But seriously, he’s cool, you’re cool. I think he’d like meeting you. Think about it.” 

Kabu and Honey were brought back in, and Raihan watched as Kabu looked over each workstation, to see which of his pokemon had been paired up with whom. When Kabu saw his ninetails sitting next to Raihan, his hand slipped through her fur, the wrinkles at his mouth and eyes deepend in a smile that Raihan was glad was being recorded. He seemed like he was getting to see something that he'd always wanted to see. 

That expression was gone by the time that he judged Raihan's desserts, however. The judges didn't know who had made each set of ramekins up on the table, but they had nothing but good things to say about Bede and the toxtricity's crème brulées. Bede won first in that challenge, and the toxtricity second. Raihan and Ball Guy’s desserts were both overbaked, although his tops got complimented and eked his place into third. That was more of a reflection of the ninetails's good work, though. 

"Ball Guy, what happened?" Honey lamented. 

The mascot patted down their apron, and pressed their gloved hands to their temples, circling their head around and pretending to lose their balance. "I don't know! I got all confused with how long to mix things for." 

"You were right that that's where you went off the track," Kabu commented, as he held out a plate of Bede's dessert to give to his centiskorch. His voice was firm, as was the nod that he gave Ball Guy. 

"Don't give up. I'm sure you'll do better when you actually have the complete recipe in front of you." His mouth quirked, amused, and Ball Guy chuckled while Raihan sighed over Kabu being encouraging and a good man. 

The director called cut and they were done for the day. Kabu and June left with some of the show’s content managers, along with the hosts, probably to plan for tomorrow’s challenge, while Raihan and the others stayed behind to start clearing up their workstations. Raihan wiped down his counter, embarrassed at how much flour there was everywhere, but his eyes still flicked back to Bede every once in a while, to keep a watch over when the younger guy was finished. He was still chewing over what had upset the guy; he'd even seemed subtly preoccupied when it was announced that he'd won the technical. 

After Bede had cleaned up his station with the crew, Raihan saw Bede immediately storm off, fists clenched. He excused himself from his station, thanking the crew members working around him as he went, and walked quickly to catch up to Bede outside of the tent. 

“Bede, hold up.” 

Bede’s steps faltered for a moment, his eyes going wide at Raihan, and Raihan saw the exact moment when Bede realised what he was here for. He ripped off his microphone, and threw it to the ground. 

"Can you just leave me alone?!" 

Raihan raised his eyebrows at Bede. "You know what? No. You're coming with me." 

He hooked a hand around Bede's elbow, and hauled him bodily away so they wouldn't be overheard. 

"I hate you --" 

"You better get used to this," Raihan interrupted Bede's vitriol. "You're a gym leader now, there's no escaping us." 

Up the steps from the tent they went, and finally to the paved brick ledge beside the steps. Raihan pushed Bede to sit, and dropped down next to him. 

"So come on. Spill it." 

Bede wrapped his skinny arms around his torso, and stared angrily ahead into the distance of the late afternoon. 

"You're lying," he accused, which had Raihan giving him another confused look. 

"About… what?" 

"Me, a gym leader. You say that, but you don't actually see me as one. None of you do." 

Raihan had to count to three to avoid breathing out pure wrath. "What? Who told you that?" He'd throw them into the dungeons under the castle. 

Bede frowned and sniffed, turning his nose up even though Raihan caught the sheen of tears in his eyes. "No one had to. I know what you all must think of me. I went around bragging about being chosen by _that liar_ ," Bede snarled out, and Raihan understood then. 

Chairman Rose. Ex-chairman, now felon. 

"My reputation's tarnished before I even started. And then I lost to the champion, and yet I get to be a gym leader? Even I find it laughable. You must think I'm a joke." 

Part of Raihan had always been a little envious of Leon's relationship with his younger brother. He'd wished he had a little sibling to look up to him and to impress. But now he wondered if Leon felt the same urge he did now, to pull Bede into a hug as if that could make everything better for a kid who'd had his faith in someone broken so badly. He leaned over to throw an arm around Bede's shoulders and pull him into Raihan's chest, squeezing him tightly. 

"What are you -- Let me go--" Bede pummeled his fists into Raihan's back, which, ow. He loosened his grip on Bede, to grab his shoulders instead. 

"I don't think you're a joke. You want the truth? I haven't really gotten to know you, Bede, so I don't know what to think of you yet. And the other gym leaders? You've fought them. They're fair people, and I'm willing to bet they agree with me." 

"What Rose did isn't on you _at all_ ," he stressed. "I knew him too. And I knew he was always thinking 100 steps ahead, but I never thought he'd do something this fucked up. If I'd known… I think a lot about what I would've done, if I'd known. If there were signs about him that I missed." Raihan heaved a sigh. 

"You're not the only person who trusted him. And feels like an idiot now. But I don't want for him to ruin anything else for you. You gotta let this go. I want to see you become a great gym leader. Partly because Opal scares me," Raihan admitted, giving Bede a toothy grin. 

"You follow me?" 

Bede, who had seemed to shrink away during Raihan's heart-to-heat, still looked uncomfortable. But he glanced up for a few seconds to peer at Raihan, before looking away to the side again. Slowly, he nodded his head. 

"Can I go now? I might go and get dinner at the spread they set out." 

Raihan nodded, sitting back to give Bede the space to stand up and brush off his shirt. "Sure. See you tomorrow?" 

Bede started to walk off, with just a sharp nod. He stopped a few steps away, though, and added without looking back, "thanks, Raihan." 

Raihan leaned back on his hands with a lazy grin. "Anytime. I mean it." 

He watched Bede leave, wondering how much of Raihan's words he was actually going to believe. If he was half as stubborn as Raihan had been back then, he was probably going to need to ask some of his friends to help smother Bede with kindness. 

“That was kind of you,” he heard someone say. He turned his head, heart already hammering, because he knew that voice. 

Kabu took a seat beside him, also looking ahead at Bede’s figure. Raihan stared in shock at him for a moment, then cleared his throat. 

“Yeah. Well.” He dug his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “I didn’t like hearing him punishing himself for what Rose did.” 

Kabu’s frown deepened the wrinkles at the corners of his mouth. “Yes. Even those of us who knew him far longer had no inkling. I think about the grand plans that he always had for the league, and second-guess his words about it now. But that doesn’t mean that I question Bede’s character.” 

Raihan tugged his headband lower over his eyes for a moment, accepting the guilt that still weighed on him whenever Rose’s actions were brought up. "So,” he tried to changed the subject. “Why didn't you step in?" 

Kabu looked over at Raihan, his calm, dark eyes meeting Raihan's, and tossing Raihan a lifeline. He gave Raihan a secretive, self-conscious smile. 

"I doubt that he would have listened to either of us, if I had caught him by surprise. I… Am reminded of my younger self when I see him." Kabu folded his hands on his lap, fingertips settling against weathered knuckles. He turned to look back off at the trees. 

"I based my self-worth on the need to prove myself. Both back in Hoenn and here. I believed that everyone was judging me. Imagine how I felt when I lost my league position, and it barely made waves in the news.” 

Raihan looked pained over at Kabu, and was floored to see how peaceful Kabu looked to be talking about that time. His eyes were fixed off in the distant, and he exhaled out the old ache of the younger man he’d been. 

“But I had Melony and Opal constantly barraging me with demands about when I would be back.” 

They both chuckled. Raihan scooted a little closer to Kabu. 

“Yeah -- I was so jealous when Gordie told me you used to babysit him and his siblings.” 

Kabu turned to raise an eyebrow at Raihan. “You don’t mean that.” 

“Uh, pretty sure I do.” 

Kabu gave Raihan a long, serious look, and lifted his hand to take Raihan’s chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I would hope that you don’t. I have enough trouble thinking that I knew you when you were just a gym challenger. When I think about how much older than you I am...” 

Raihan felt his heart jump. “Are you --” 

With a troubled smile, Kabu at least seemed to see the desperate longing on Raihan’s face, because he dropped his hand to pat Raihan’s gently. “I’ve noticed that you haven’t said anything suggestive to me in nearly a year.” 

Raihan chewed the inside of his cheek. “I mean. I got the hint eventually. I’m trying to show you that I can be mature.” 

“Yes. I have enjoyed seeing you rein yourself in,” Kabu chuckled, and Raihan felt like the last few months of torture had been worth it. “But you don’t need to, to get my attention.” 

“So if I start telling you about all the rooms in Hammerlocke castle that I’d like to show you?” Raihan waggled his eyebrows, which earned him a flat look from Kabu again. 

There was silence for a few long seconds, before Kabu spoke again. 

“Raihan. What do you want from me?” 

Wasn’t it obvious? 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Raihan asked, sounding a little confounded. 

Kabu put a hand on his hip. “Not until you actually put this into words, Raihan.” 

Raihan lurched towards Kabu, and gripped his shoulders. “I want to date you,” he said in a rush. “I know I come on strong but I want the whole package, not just the sex. I’m someone you can keep around. Trust me.” 

His face was burning up, as Kabu cupped the back of his neck and then oh god, Kabu kissed him. Raihan felt his warm mouth on his, and then Kabu’s tongue stroking over his lower lip, and Raihan eagerly opened his mouth to slot their lips together and meet Kabu’s tongue with his own. Kabu’s thumb rubbed circles against his neck and Raihan shivered when they broke apart. 

“I am glad you said this,” Kabu said, his voice far too collected and satisfied. Raihan, a little glassy-eyed, audibly purred, and Kabu’s eyes darkened. “Would you like to get dinner with me tonight?” 

Raihan’s jaw dropped open wide. “R-Really? But won’t we get in trouble if people see us -- favouritism and all that?” 

Kabu gave Raihan a grin that was downright wicked, and Raihan groaned. 

“Ugh, couldn’t you have played along? I know there’s no chance I’m gonna be called the winner.” 

That comment stilled Kabu, and he leveled a serious look again at Raihan. “I hope that you still had fun today,” he spoke, sounding wry. He looked up at Raihan. 

“And I apologise for being harsh with you. I do not truly mean to degrade your effort.” 

Raihan reached up to scratch the back of his head, and then slip his fingers between Kabu’s, still cupping his neck. “Uhh, actually.” He looked up at the darkening sky. 

“I really liked that.” He glanced back down at Kabu, and felt a lighting jolt crash into his gut at the dark, hungry look in Kabu’s eyes. 

“Really?” Kabu said, words caught low and rasping in his throat. “I’ll keep this in mind.” 

“Tonight?” Raihan asked hopefully, and Kabu laughed in a way that had Raihan leaning back down just to kiss him. 

“No,” Kabu replied after Raihan had straightened back up. “Milo was generous and offered me his guest room. But you should join us for dinner. We should also see if Bede is staying around here tomorrow night, and invite him as well.” 

“But after dinner tomorrow?” Raihan pressed, a smirk on his face as he egged Kabu on. Including Bede took priority over his years long crush, he _supposed_ , but he was never going to give Kabu an out from now on. 

Kabu smirked back. “Sure. I’ll cook. We can revisit how to make shortbread.”

Raihan groaned loudly and slumped against Kabu as the older man laughed heartily. Kabu’s arm slipped around his waist and slid under the front of his apron, to stroke Raihan’s sternum, and Raihan decided he was very okay with all of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This challenge was inspired by the one challenge where Paul had everyone make pita on a heated stone outdoors. I wanted to have Kabu get to do something that takes full advantage of him being a gym leader whose pokemon most of the audience would've either battled against in their own league challenges, or watched fighting in matches. Also because I love Kabu and his pokemon. 
> 
> Chapter 4 will be up by the end of the week!


End file.
